Fall from Grace
by banjofrog
Summary: Sakura would be the key to getting what he wanted. But, she was a skeleton key, and she would unlock many doors that Gaara never knew existed. AU. GaaSaku.
1. Prologue

**Rating**: M (violence, drug use, language, sexual content)

**Summary**: Sakura would be the key to getting what he wanted. But, she was a skeleton key, and she would unlock many doors that Gaara never knew existed. AU. GaaSaku.

* * *

- Fall from Grace -

_Prologue_

You never heard about anything more than a petty crime in the peaceful city of Konoha; shoplifting, maybe a little domestic violence here and there. People lived their lives, oblivious that there was such thing as evil in the world. That was, until the drug war broke out and the benighted citizens of Konoha were forced to open their eyes to a side of their home they didn't know existed. The black market was expanding, hard drugs were becoming easier and easier to find. New to most of them, a lot of people in Konoha lost their self control and spun themselves out. Some regained their lives or even a better life than the ones they had, others weren't so fortunate. The drug laws became harsher, crime began to increase, the once peaceful city of Konoha was slowly crumbling. Fear took over and the citizens fortunate enough not to crumble with it turned a blind eye, and went on living their lives.

The drug cartels had existed for a long time, but during the last five years a fresh new face with new ideas took the place of an infamous Suna cartel leader that had been murdered. They had planned to change the whole game. And that, they certainly did. The new leader made it a goal to hunt down and create a partnership with a person or persons in several other countries who had became skilled in the art of creating the best strain of a specific drug, promising that they would create a lucrative business together and own the global black market. After learning the skills of their new partners, they would do away with them, typically in gruesome and unforgiving ways. They would take over their market and acquire secret ways for some of the best strains of heroin, cocaine several different types of psychedelics, marijuana, and man-made drugs ever made.

The new leader was mad with power. After coming across a strain of marijuana that brought in a hundred times more cash and clients than the one he was growing, he wanted in on it. He traced the strain all the way back to Konoha, where two quiet growers Sasuke Uchiha and Naruto Uzumaki called home. They kept to themselves, realizing the reality of their situation. Dealing with people they weren't familiar with could mean life in prison, or unfriendly competition. But what was supposed to be a short-term way to make a lot of money fast turned into a full-time commitment; soon, they were living the high life. But unfortunately, with everything good comes something bad.

It wouldn't be long before two members of the Suna drug cartel detected them at a yearly parade in Konoha amongst all the commotion and confetti. They went somewhere private for a conversation requesting a partnership, but the two peaceful Konohains denied this request. Unsure of what to do at this point since he had never been rejected, Suna's cartel leader decided to make the first decision to come to mind; there was a girl at the parade with Sasuke and Naruto. She was holding hands with one of them and interacting with the other boy like they had a close friendship. She was clearly an important person in their lives. Someone whom they wouldn't want to see in any harm.

She would be the key to getting what he wanted.

But, she was a skeleton key, and she would unlock many doors that he never knew existed.

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**A/N**: Hello readers. I hope this story doesn't seem bland already since this isn't even the first chapter, but I have to admit that I haven't written fanfiction in about 7 long years now. I decided to go with an AU because I also haven't kept up with the Naruto series and I have no idea what's really going on in it at this point. And I like that it gives me the freedom to write about damn near anything I want, while still using my favorite characters. I have big plans for this, so I hope you guys can come to love it. Or at least like it a little bit! Reviews are appreciated and constructive criticism is welcome. I will update whenever I find the time, I'm very busy and I have a five month old who keeps me on my toes.


	2. Chapter 1

- Fall from Grace -

_Chapter 1_

The warmth of the sunlight pouring in through the bedroom windows caressed Sakura's cheek gently, making her eyes flicker open. She yawned and stretched every limb, letting out a deep sigh when she finished. "I don't wanna wake up yet..." she murmured. She lay there motionless for a moment before speaking again. "Sasuke..." she said softly. No reply. "...Sasuke?" She glanced over at Sasuke's side of the bed.

Alone. Again.

"Figures," she wasn't surprised. Sasuke would be gone before she woke up randomly. Today, he promised her that he'd stay home with her before he went to work. But this wasn't the first time he broke a promise, and it probably wouldn't be the last. It was about 9:30 in the morning. He didn't have to work until noon. He claimed that's where he went when she questioned him about it before, but she still had her suspicions. Maybe there was another woman in his life? "Nah... that would be too obvious."

She threw the sheets off of her and made her way to the bathroom to get ready for the day.

"I hope he at least remembers that we had plans tonight..."

It was work that Sasuke was leaving for so early almost every morning, but it wasn't the type of work that Sakura was aware of. He'd leave before the sun came up most mornings to work on the plants with Naruto. She assumed they ran a very successful bakery; she was oblivious to the fact that 90 percent of the money they brought in actually came from growing marijuana in the basement of the bakery. After their first harvest, which they set up outside in an open field, they purchased an empty store and turned it into a bakery. It hid the smell just enough, although some customers would still make comments about the employees smelling like skunk. Nobody assumed that there would be a hundred some marijuana plants in the basement, though.

Working on such a project with Naruto had it's ups and downs. He was a fast learner, fast worker, always looking for ways to improve the plants, and he raised over half of the plants all by himself. The downsides... he was annoying. Naruto had a habit of talking. A lot. Often saying things that didn't make sense, or made sense but were completely irrelevant to the point in time. Sasuke had learned to block it out over the years, especially now that he would remain trapped in a room with him up to several hours. Today, they were trimming some of the plants. Days like these, Sasuke would completely block Naruto's voice out the entire time they were there, concentrating on trimming the buds neatly and as close to perfect as he could get.

Naruto had been running his mouth for about 20 minutes now before he realized Sasuke had tuned him out.

"Hey Sasuke," he said, "Sasuke... Saaasuke." Sasuke remained in his own thoughts, until... "SASUKE!"

"_What_!" he yelled, finally snapping out of it.

"Those strange people at the parade yesterday," said Naruto, "you don't think they're anything to worry about, do ya?"

"What strange people? There were thousands of them," said Sasuke.

"The hot chick with the crazy hair and that weird guy with his face painted like he was from a tribe or something," Naruto said, "they seemed pretty unhappy when you told them we didn't want to work for them."

"Oh, them... I don't think we have to worry about them. They looked harmless. Besides, they don't know where we grow, otherwise they would have came here..."

They were quiet for a moment before Naruto spoke again, causing Sasuke to jump slightly and snip a bud in half. "It was pretty strange that they picked us out of a crowd of thousands, don't ya think?"

Sasuke growled, irritated that he just assassinated a perfect bud. "Yeah, strange," he appeased. Then, he actually thought about Naruto's statement. "That _is_ pretty strange... The only people who know about what we do are working upstairs right now... And the only way a total stranger would find out is through one of them." He held a thoughtful look on his face. "...Looks like we're gonna have to cut someone off."

"Ehhhh, well..." Naruto began to laugh nervously, "I _may_ know who it was..."

Sasuke furrowed his brow. "...Naruto, what did you do?"

"Hahaha, um... y-you remember that kid last week at the club?" he continued with his nervous laugh, "the one that Shikamaru asked me to sell to?"

"Vaguely..."

"Well... I sold to him. And I was a little drunk and uh... I kind of told him that I grew it... And gave him my name..."

"Naruto," Sasuke said calmly, "you are a _fucking _idiot."

"I know- I know, I'm sorry," he apologized, "I wasn't thinking!"

"You _never _think!"

"I didn't think it would blow back on us! He looked like he was pretty innocent... in fact, I had never seen him around here before so I assumed I'd never hear from him again!"

"You better hope that nothing else comes from this," Sasuke threatened, pointing his scissors at Naruto, "or you're _dead_." He turned and went back to trimming, quickly with a little frustration.

Naruto blinked before laughing nervously again, "You're funny, Sasuke," he said. Sasuke didn't respond. "You're...you're kidding, right?" Sasuke continued to trim and said nothing. Naruto got the message and went back to doing his job, remaining quiet for a while. Then after about a half hour, he spoke again out of no where, causing Sasuke to jump and snip yet another bud in half. "Sasuke, are we still going out with Sakura tonight?"

Sasuke sighed with annoyance, "Yeah..." he grumbled.

"Okay," said Naruto, "do you know where you want to go yet? I was thinking somewhere fancy, so that way I have an excuse to wear my new-"

"Naruto," Sasuke interrupted.

"Yeah?"

"You're an idiot."

That meant shut up. "...Okay."

It was about 8:30 PM by the time Sasuke got home. Sakura came out of the bathroom shortly after she heard the front door shut and found him in the bedroom changing into something more dining appropriate.

"I wasn't sure if you remembered," she said.

"Of course I remembered," said Sasuke, "I always remember. I'm just very busy."

"So that means you _did _remember that you were going to hang out with me before you went to work this morning?"

"Duty called..."

Sakura sighed and put her arms out, "Well," she said with a big smile, "what do you think?" She was wearing a cute little pair of stilettos and a beautiful crimson thigh-length qipao with a golden phoenix on it; the phoenix shimmered under the light. Her hair was down, reaching the middle of her back with long, elegant curls that she had to spend several hours trying to tame her pin straight hair into. She looked quite stunning and even she knew it.

"Not bad," said Sasuke in an unamused tone.

"Not bad?" she questioned, smile fading to a frown with her crushed hopes, "what does that mean?"

"It means... not bad?"

"Hmph," she crossed her arms over her chest. Sasuke went back to getting ready.

"What are you all dressed up for any way? We're only going to a sushi bar."

"I just wanted to look nice for once," she said, while thinking to herself, '_For you..._'

"Oh," he said, "well we gotta hurry up, Naruto is probably already there."

"Wait- you invited Naruto?"

"He kind of invited himself. You know how he likes to eat,"

"Yeah," she sighed with disappointment, frown becoming more prominent. But she quickly straightened her mood out; she wasn't going to let something silly ruin a good night, even if it already wasn't going the way she wanted. The fact that Sasuke was taking her out for the first time in a while was a step up in their relationship.

Upon arriving at the sushi bar, Sakura had a chilling feeling running down her spine. She couldn't help but feel like there were a pair of ominous eyes on her. But then again, she was a little over dressed for a sushi bar, so it could've been a questionable look she felt watching her. Either way, she kept looking around all over the place to see who was watching her, but couldn't see anybody. The restaurant was located on a quiet little back street with little traffic, and at this hour everybody was inside or elsewhere in the city.

They entered the sushi bar, immediately spotting Naruto already sitting down at a table stuffing his face.

"What took ya guys so long? Mmmfmm" he said, filling his mouth with three rolls of sushi at once. He stopped chewing when he laid eyes on Sakura. "Wow Sakura, you look beautiful!"

"Thanks Naruto," she smiled, but then felt her smile fade once again. She wished that Sasuke could have been the one to say that, not that it wasn't nice to hear from anybody else. The entire time they were waiting for their food, up until the point they were eating it and nearly finished, Naruto talked until his face turned blue. Sasuke was always quiet around Naruto, occasionally throwing in a witty comment or an insult here or there when he does chime in. Sakura normally indulged in Naruto's conversations, but this time, she tuned him out like Sasuke always does. All she could think about was the lack of attention Sasuke had been giving her lately. She was beginning to wonder if maybe he really was seeing someone else, or maybe he was losing interest in her. It was either that, or he really was oblivious to her cry for his attention.

"Hey, what's with you guys?" Naruto finally asked. "Are you ok, Sakura?"

"Huh? Y-yeah, I'm fine..." she lied, now stricken with anxiety, "actually, I don't feel so well. I'm gonna go outside for some fresh air, I'll be right back."

"Do you want me to come with you?"

"I'll be fine,"

Sakura got up from the table and walked outside. She walked for a short moment until she fount a bench surrounded by several large bushes and a tree. Taking a seat, she put her head back and closed her eyes, breathing in slowly. Why couldn't her boyfriend acknowledge her the way Naruto did? He rarely did nice things for her and when he did there was a catch to it- like taking her out and allowing Naruto to come along. He almost never complimented her when she dressed up for him. He paid very little attention to her any more; but now that she thought about it, it had always kind of been this way. A few years ago, she wanted nothing more but to be Sasuke's girlfriend. She'd see him around in school, stop what she was doing and daydream about their future together. After high school when she finally worked up the nerve to ask him out and he said yes, she was too distracted by the fact that he said yes to notice anything else; for example, his lack of enthusiasm in having a relationship at all.

They had been together a little over a year now, even lived together, but their relationship was a pathetic excuse for one.

Sakura's eyes flew open. There was that feeling again- someone was definitely watching her. She sat up quickly.

"I think I've had enough air..." She stood up and quickly began to make her way back to the sushi bar as fast as she could strut in her stilettos. But she stopped when she heard a noise behind her. "Is...is someone there?" she called out. No response. "Too weird..." She continued back to the sushi bar, but before she could make it she felt an arm snake around her slender neck and a hand covered her nose and mouth. She tried to scream and kick, but her attempts were pointless because only seconds after it happened, she smelled something and felt her body becoming weak. '_What is that smell?_' she thought. But before she could think again, her eyes were getting heavy. Before she was completely out of it, she felt her body being tossed over someone's shoulder and carried away from the sushi bar.

"Sas..uke...Na...ruto..." she muttered, and then everything went black.


End file.
